


Rumours

by Fyre



Series: Command [2]
Category: Agent Carter (TV), Captain America (Movies), Captain Marvel (2019), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-03
Updated: 2019-04-03
Packaged: 2020-01-04 09:33:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,326
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18340955
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fyre/pseuds/Fyre
Summary: First it was aliens. Now, Fury's ex-boss is back and looking for answers.





	Rumours

**Author's Note:**

> I couldn't help myself :)

“It sounds like you had quite the week.”

“Fuck!” Fury swung around from the window. He would never admit to anyone that he yelped, but Carter was too damn good at sneaking up on a man in heels. Technically, she was officially retired, but no one had the balls to revoke her clearance and she showed up whenever she damn well pleased. Usually right in time to scare the shit out of him and make him spill hot coffee all over himself. 

She offered him a lace-trimmed handkerchief, her lips twitching. “Language, Nicholas.”

Fury rolled his eye at her. “I remember the pool tournament, Carter. Don’t act the innocent. You know worse and then some.” He dried the coffee off of his hand, wincing. “Jesus. Do you always have to do that?”

She chuckled, sitting down demurely on the chair by his desk. “I have to amuse myself somehow.” She folded her hands in her lap and arched her eyebrow. “Especially since I was left with nothing but a dusty trip to the UN for the past few days and apparently missed some excitement.”

Fury peered moodily into his cup. Half of the best Columbian gone to waste. “You gonna cover another coffee.”

“Don’t I always?” She smiled. 

He sat down on his side of the desk, leaning back in the leather with a sigh. He still had bruises on his bruises and his ribs ached like he’d been hit by a truck. “I guess you heard some of the rumours?”

She tilted her head with that familiar half-smile. “And you and I know both know the value of rumours. How much of it is true?”

He set his half-empty cup down. “All of it.”

Carter – to her credit – only looked startled for a second. “Ah.”

Fury smiled crookedly. “Yeah. And then some.”

She looked away from him, frowning in thought. Her forefinger tapped on the back of her hand. Abruptly, she rose, striding to the door and locking it. 

“I swept the place,” he reminded her mildly, taking a sip of his coffee.

“Sometimes, we need additional precautions,” she replied, withdrawing a small object from her pocket. It looked like a small metal box, barely bigger than her palm. She returned to the desk, setting it down on the surface. Two small lights blinked on the polished rim. “To ensure anyone is listening gets nothing but static.”

“And I thought I was paranoid.” He studied her. “You thinking off-book with this?”

“As much as you can, given how many witnesses there were.” She sat back down. “One should never put all one’s eggs in one basket.”

“Our ace in the hole, huh?”

“Mixing our metaphors, but yes.” She folded her hands again and took a breath. He didn’t blame her. It was always a hell of a thing when your world turned out to be much bigger than you realised. “So. Aliens?”

“Two factions,” he confirmed with a nod. “Kree and Skrull. Kree look more like us. Skrull can look however they damn well please.”

“Shapeshifters?”

Fury nodded. “One of them playacted Keller. You’d never know they weren’t human.”

Carter’s scarlet lips pursed, deepening the lines around her mouth. “With creatures like that on the loose, I’m amazed we haven’t been invaded already.”

“We got lucky. Way I got it figured, Kree bad, Skrull good. Some kind of history of war. Too much to get into right now, but one of the Kree defected to help the Skrull and somehow, it all happened here a few years ago and none of us knew a damn thing about it.”

Carter’s cheek twitched. “And people wondered why I was hesitant to stand down.”

“You’re telling me you knew we’d be invaded by shape-shifting aliens and freaky-ass tentacle cats?”

She blinked at him. “I beg your pardon.”

“Tentacle cats. Like regular cats. But tentacles in their mouths.” He grimaced. “Don’t trust them.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.” She hesitated, then asked, “And the woman?”

Fury took another sip of his coffee. “American. Former air force pilot. Signed up to make a difference. Accidentally picked up some super powers along the way.”

Carter’s eyebrows arched. “How convenient for us.”

“I’ll say,” Fury snorted. “She speaks fluent sass.”

“She wouldn’t happen to be blonde and stubborn as a mule by any chance?”

Fury frowned. “You sure you didn’t meet her?”

Carter chuckled. “I think it’s safe to say I know the type.” She unfolded and refolded her hands. “Asset? Or Liability?”

Fury shrugged as much as his aching shoulders would let him. “We’re not a smoking crater right now, so I’d say we’re good.”

“You know it’s never that simple.”

“Yeah.” He drained the rest of his cup, then crumpled it and tossed it. “She headed out to deal with some problems…” He pointed vaguely upwards. “Up there. The ones who had her all this time or some bullshit. Left me a pager. I can beep her any time we’re really in trouble.”

“A pager for someone in space?” Carter shook her head with a rueful laugh. “I suppose there are stranger things.”

“Flying women are pretty high up there.”

He’d known her long enough to recognise the gleam in her eyes. “What was she like?”

“Honestly? About as much of a pain in my ass as you are.”

Carter burst out laughing. “The highest of compliments, I see.” She leaned forward, bracing her arm on the desk. “Details, Nicholas. The flying?”

“Like she has a rocket in her ass.”

“And it’s not a suit or anything?”

Fury shook his head at once. “She’s like a thunderstorm bottled up in 130 pounds of attitude. Laser beams. Fireballs. A punch to knock you on your ass.”

Carter gave a soft, awed sigh. “She sounds _splendid_.”

Fury considered Carter. “I don’t think this planet could handle two of you.”

He almost grinned when colour spread on her cheeks. “Compliments, Nicholas?”

“Risk assessment,” he retorted. “Someone has to keep this planet intact.”

She nodded approvingly. “I’m assuming you have plans in motion? A first line of defence in case of other incursions, if this woman is preoccupied?”

He gave her a look. “Who do you think you’re talking to?”

“Good point.” She glanced towards the door. “I ought to be on my way. I don’t want to raise more questions.” She looked back at him. “I expect–”

“You’ll know if you need to know.”

She unfolded smoothly for someone her age, brushing her skirt down. “You mind your eggs and I’ll mind mine.” With one finger, she pressed the surface of the small machine on the desk. “I was sorry to hear about your eye. Rumour said it was torture?”

He schooled his expression. He used to think he had a good poker face, but decades working under Carter had forced him to up his game. “I couldn’t tell you.”

“Odd,” she murmured, “how much those marks resemble the claws of a certain species– ”

The damn woman was too good at her job. “Carter…” 

She tapped the side of her nose. “Between us, Nicholas.” She picked up her small machine, slipping it back into her pocket. “If anything comes up, you know where you can find me.”

He couldn’t help himself. “I’ll page you.”

Carter laughed, striding towards the door. “I bet you say that to all the girls.” 

As soon as the door closed behind her, he sighed, rubbing his forehead. She was right about spreading the intel thin. 

Still, as he pulled open his drawer and the room was lit up by the pale blue glow of the tesseract, he wondered if he’d kept it secret because it was useful or because he didn’t want to be the reason that a septuagenarian digging up and punching a dead billionaire in the mouth for finding and using it without telling her. 

One day, she was going to have to know, but right now…

He closed that particular egg away in his basket.


End file.
